UNITED STATES 



DEPARTMENT of AGRICULTURE 



DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 367 



Washington, D. C. April, 1926 



AIRPLANE DUSTING IN THE 

 CONTROL OF MALARIA MOSQUITOES 



W. V. KING, Associate Entomologist 



and 



G. H. BRADLEY, Assistant Entomologist 



Investigations of Insects Affecting the Health of Man and Animals 

 Bureau of Entomology 



CONTENTS 



Page 



The insecticidal dust used L' 



Preliminary experiments to deter- 

 mine distribution of the dust on 

 the ground and minimum killing 

 dosage :; 



Page 



Dusting mosquito-breeding lakes 5 



Dusting a flooded rice field 10 



An additional check on the results 13 



Summary 13. 



The use of airplanes for distributing arsenical dusts in the control 

 of insect pests affecting cotton has been the subject of experiment 

 during the last three years by the Delta Laboratory of the Bureau 

 of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, in coop- 

 eration with the United States Army Air Service. The headquarters 

 for this work was at Tallulah, La., a short distance from the bureau's 

 station for malaria mosquito investigations at Mound, La., so that, 

 with the offer of cooperation from the Delta Laboratory and the Air 

 Service detachment engaged in cotton-dusting experiments, an ex- 

 cellent opportunity was presented for testing the possibilities of 

 employing airplanes 1 in the control of the breeding of Anopheles 

 mosquitoes in large swamp areas, Paris green being used as the 

 larvicide. It was obvious that if this insecticide should prove satis- 

 factory for the purpose and if its distribution by airplane should 

 prove successful, the extent of the area which could be treated would 

 be many times greater than that which could be covered by any other 

 treatment now in use. 



1 The writers are greatly indebted to B., R. Coad, of the Bureau of Entomology : Elmer 

 Johnson, of the Bureau of Public Roads ; and Lieut. G. L. McNeil and Sergeants McCon- 

 nell and McGinley, of the United States Army Air Service, for their cooperation and 

 assistance in the dusting experiments. 



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